Saturday, August 24, 2013

what facebook is doing to the human eye, and why we are to blind to see it

"I wish I could have lived during the sixties"
 Me            

Jovanotti, a famous Italian singer, writes in his book "Il grande boh" that during full moon he encounters problems being creative. He usually stays up at night, since nighttime is when inspiration comes to him. During full moon he cannot focus on anything, his mind is dizzy, his body is anxious.

Sleep, I believe is something fundamental to us. Sleep, and also to let our eyes sleep at times. The modern human being is forgetting how she used to live like. She thinks that sitting in front of a computer is something normal, something sane. She never takes into consideration the fact that a hundred and fifty years ago, the human species spent their days on the land growing vegetables, or hunting or fishing in the forest.

The human eye is formed as a boiled egg, and what holds it there are six muscles that enables it to focus. When the human being used to walk in the forest, looking at birds, glazing at the horizon, she was training up the eyes´muscles. Today, sitting in front of the computer, looking at the iPhone, textmessaging, watching television our focus is still for hours. These habits are not only damaging for a day-to-day eye-sight, it causes some people having to wear eye-glasses since the eyes muscles itself are not able to change the focus. Eye-glasses are like a wheel-chair for the legs. 

A recent research at the University of Michigan, suggests that Facebook makes you unhappy. The research involved surveying 82 undergrads and showed that the more time the college students said they spent on Facebook, the more likely they were to report feeling a little less chipper, a little less satisfied with life. 
"The more people reported using Facebook, the more negative they were feeling following Facebook use," Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan.

Over the years, various studies have made a range of observations about our Facebook relationships: that posting photos alienates your friends, that "Liking" a post will nudge other friends who see it to do the same etc.

Here, to be complete the survey needs to differentiate between various kinds of activities on Facebook — whether the participants were simply browsing, posting public messages, or "liking" posts and photos. 

Facebook experience is influenced in no small part by "what you're doing online, and whom you're doing it with", for instance has satisfaction been a result of surveys when the undergrad students were communicating with their close friends or loved ones.

Considering human beings are complex creatures, and our online behavior reflects that too, it's perhaps not too surprising that this study shows how our actions influence our state of mind, even about the world's biggest social network.




Meanwhile the average American spends 31 minutes on Facebook each day, sleeping time has decreased to 6,5 hours per night, compared to 8 hours just one generation ago. In the last decades, sleep is increasingly considered as a waste of time: you snooze you lose. The digital culture promoves being "on", not "off". That the seemingly solitary sleep is dependent on a lived community makes the attack on the nightly rest, pictures the idea of how ​​a more cohesive society has broken down in favor of an ideology of individual success and fulfillment. Unproductiveness of sleep - the only remaining opportunity where we can neither work nor consume - is what Marx called a "natural barrier" against capitalism: that we sleep less and less is seen as an expression of the market's inherent demands for expansion.

The digital culture has effectively increased the commercialization of more and more aspects of our lives and normalized a connection 24/7 - around the clock. This has several consequences. The most obvious and often-discussed (but it seems to help) is that we make ourselves constantly exposed to intrusion and monitoring. We can say whatever we want about our abilities at ignoring ads in our Facebook feeds: no one can escape from the ongoing collection of our digital behaviors, which are then analyzed and resold.

Another consequence is how the constant readiness to perform different types of services places us in an ongoing digital training camp, where the distinctions between work and leisure, between public and private, between the living and the organization disappears. Any kind of set-up time can be filled with narcissistic self-reflection or construction of the personal brand. All occasions for real subjectivity, to free thoughts flow and daydreaming disappear.

When interpersonal contact is reduced to an interface, our responsibility for others finds itself eliminated, argue Crary, the writer of the book 24/7. Walter Benjamin noted that 18th Century people, which quickly became accustomed to the new congestion on city streets and trams, were the first generation to be systematically trained not to meet the other's gaze. Over a hundred years later, smart appliances prevent spontaneous meetings. More important still, 24/7 gives the illusion of a time without waiting and immediate gratification. As a result, patience, that is a prerequisite for any democracy is weakening: listening to others, waiting for their turn to speak.

24/7 is a time zone with no time, a world without shadows. Certainly, no one can work, shop, play, blog or do networking around the clock, but since today there is no time, place or situation in which one can not consume goods or use social networking, 24/7 infuses every aspect of our lives. But somewhere in the no man's land between society and nature, a resistance action is sleeping, which reminds us that another world is possible, and to some extent exists. A world where the earth and the sun moves and separates day from night. A world where we could relax.

Now that Facebook has entered an alliance with Ericsson and Nokia to deliver internet access to the worlds developing countries - in order to reach out to another four billion people - investing over 1 billion dollars, you do not need to be a genius to predict what is going to happen. Billions of people will see their lives changed; they will sit in front of screens, damaging their eyesight, getting bad sleep at night, feeling unhappy visiting facebook.

Why are we too blind to see what Facebook is doing to our lives, not only in terms of eyesight and sleep but also our state of mind?
Do we really need more human beings to suffer the same way as we do?

Saturday, August 17, 2013

upupa sings a song for me


During crisis and pain, we can discover love. In a desperate situation we are filled with unconditional love. The word crisis is like cross roads. Violence and pain cannot stay in a space full of love and light. Angels landing from above, dissolving the dark wherever they go.


The other day I was amazed. While laying in the hammock reading a book, a small upupa bird (hoopoe) shows up.
It came to sit just within three foot-steps of reach. It was looking at me with curious eyes. It looked as if it wanted to tell me something, but I couldn´t understand it´s language. I just had a subtle feeling.


I had to find out more about this incredible bird, which was so pretty to me. Not only was I impressed by it´s colours, but also the soul felt light as its feathers.


I read that it´s name was given by a Swedish ornithologist, Mr Linneas in 1758. By that time the bird was common on Swedish ground. It used to be common in England as well, but was later (after the 50s) extinguished, probably because of the overuse of pesticides in agriculture.


I wonder if this particular individual could come flying from Egypt. In ancient Egypt, upupa was considered a sacred bird, it was forbidden to kill it and it was often illustrated on thumbs. I am sorry to know that life is not as sacred in today´s Egypt.


In Greek and latin mythology the upupa is instead considered to be a despicable in the Metamorphoses of Ovid. When the king of Thrace, Tereus's wife Procne (learnt of the rape of her sister Philomela by her husband) servs dishes cooked with the meat of their son Iti, Tereus tries to kill her and is turned into a upupa while Procne became a swallow and Philomela a nightingale. The god´s choice of  the upupa comes from the crest of this bird that indicates royalty, while the long, pointed beak recalls the violent nature of King Tereus.






In the Bible, upupa should not be eaten, since considered the bird of sin.


In the Coran upupa is a messenger.


In old Persia, upupa is considered the bird of virtue.


In Europe the upupa was considered a thief, just like the magpies. In Scandinavia, on the other hand, seeing an upupa was associated with an imminent war. The sound of the bird hip hip was a prediction of a non-peaceful period of time.


In the Baltic countries, hearing their singing is an omen of death to humans or animals. They use to think the upupa was able to establish a contact between the realm of the living and the death.


After reading the history about upupa, I wonder if the choice of Israel to use the upupa as its national bird was just a random one.


I do believe us humans were more connected to human earth once. We felt nature, and nature could speak through us. Most of us lost this deep connection to mother nature. So my feeling is there is some truth to be found in the knowledge of the past regarding the upupa.


However, the bird confuses me. Why did it show up on August 14th, the worst day of killings in Egypt. If it really is supposed to be the "bird of death" then why did I feel like it was telling me to live my life as much as I could.


Thursday, August 1, 2013

sowing seeds



                                                                                                                  









De parvis grandis acervus eris
out of something small, great things can be accomplished


Looking back, on August 1st one year ago, I posted some thoughts regarding the owl - the sign of transformation. Now, a whole year has past by, and what have I learnt since.


                                                                 
I learnt the essence of: sowing seeds



Sowing seeds can be interpreted in many different ways. You may sow flowers, vegetables or other seeds to make your garden look beautiful, to have tasty vegetables or just a greener environment. This is partly what I have been doing.
I have planted almost two hundred plants of tomatoes, together with zucchini, peppers, unions, potatoes, cucumbers, aubergines...



It has been an amazing journey to see the tomatoe plants become two meters high and full
of red fruits hanging from them, when four months earlier they were only a 1 mm small seed.
To see something so small and vulnerable, become something so hugh and generous, is awarding. You dedicate a lot of your time taking care of these plants, from watering them when they are small, to eliminating branches and tying them when they get bigger. The fun part is to pick the fruit. That is the time when you can fully sense the satisfaction of your fatigues. The taste of the tomatoes is the proof your work has been rewarding.



There are many ways to sow seeds on. I have been imagining myself being a seed. I do this as a meditation. I bend down lying like a baby in my mothers stomach. In there I am safe, since I am just a small tiny seed. Then something happens to me. I can feel the warmth coming, filling my whole body from within. It gets so warm, I feel I need to move. I take my first moves, up towards the sun. I slowly move my arms up to touch the sky. My legs are bending open now, standing up. I feel I want to reach the sky, my whole body is a plant which is growing towards the sun, almost feeling as if I could touch it. Finally the tense feeling of reaching out gets to a climax. I yell out loud, then I let my arms hang down, relaxing.



Another way to sow seeds is in life. Whatever your aims, your goals, your ambitions are. Start to sow some seeds here and there. Look for the right people and let them know what you desire. Keep your eyes open, never let an occasion go out of hand. Each moment in life can be a moment to sow a seed. Slowly, but safely, you will see that what you are sowing will start to grow.
Whether it is about a job, a material thing, a spiritual path, a journey or a relationship.



In relationships, especially, sowing seeds are important. When making new friends you are sowing new seeds. Then, in time, you need to make sure to take care of the friendship. If you do not take care of the plant that is growing, it will grow out of hand. A relation is just as a fragile flower - you need to take daily care of it. You need to water it, give it some nutrition, let it stand in the sun. If you do not add some positive energy to the relationship, sooner or later it is condemned to break.



Sowing seeds are important for our lives. They can make our dreams come true. They make our relationships last long. They help us achieve what we want in life.
But you need to remember to have no rush. Growing is a long process, it takes time and a lot
of energy and care.


     Chi va piano va sano e va lontano
                                                                                             Who goes slowly, goes healthy, goes far